Penalty for being accused of leaving accident scene (Strafbefahl)

[apfel]

Hi
I have been accused of leaving a crash scene. A false accusation! Just want to hear your experience.

In a turn before the autobahn when the traffic light got green, my car mirror slightly touched the mirror of another car. Because of the traffic, the guy started driving and I also drove after him. We pulled over ~200m away from the initial location. We talked together and checked the mirror and the guy told with a smile and a thumbs up that nothing happened, which was true. It was a light touch and absolutely nothing happened. He drove away.

Around two weeks later I got a letter for damaging the mirror of a car and leaving the scene. I did not take the responsibly and rejected everything, as I talked to a lawyer from my legal insurance (Rechsschutzversicherung). I also talked to police and asked if it is possible to check the cameras but I was told that recorded videos are kept just up to 24 hours and they do not have it. When the guy reported the incident after a couple of hours on the same day, why did not police got a backup from the video of the camera on that street?! I also somehow found that the guy reported the incident with a different car with a completely broken mirror.

Now, after around a month I got a penalty letter, accusing me of leaving the scene. I need to pay 1600€ and cannot drive for 1 month.
The guy was alone. But now I see the name of an eye-witness on the letter. Apparently he got some (fake) eye-witnesses.

I have two weeks for appeal. I will do that. Just want to see if you had similar experiences?
Why 40 days and each day 40€?
Is it this easy? to say OK nothing happened and suing after that? to bring fake eye-witness?
Or maybe the witnesses claim they were in other cars? When I talked to the guy no one pulled over and he was alone.
How can I go forward?

If I would record our conversation with my mobile phone, this wouldn't happen.
The guy could barely talk a word in German and probably got the idea of suing me from someone else. He reported it to police after couple of hours.
He is clearly ripping me off and I do not know how to prove it.

Here I put the main part of the letter:
--------------------------------------------------
Auf Antrag der Staatsanwaltschaft [city] wird gegen Sie
wegen unerlaubten Entfernens vom Unfallort
- Vergehen nach §§ 142 Abs. 1 Nr. 1, 44 StGB
eine Geldstrafe von 40 Tagessätzen zu je 40,00 Euro (= 1.600,00 Euro) festgesetzt.
Ihnen wird für die Dauer von 1 Monat untersagt, im Straßenverkehr Kraftfahrzeuge jeder Art zu führen.

Gemäß § 465 StPO werden Ihnen die Kosten des Verfahrens auferlegt.

Die Staatsanwaltschaft beschuldigt Sie, am [date & location] sich als Unfallbeteiligte nach einem Unfall im Straßenverkehr vom Unfallort entfernt zu haben, bevor Sie zugunsten der anderen Unfallbeteiligten und der Geschädigten die Feststellung Ihrer Person, Ihres Fahrzeugs und der Art Ihrer Beteiligung durch Ihre Anwesenheit und durch die Angabe, dass Sie an dem Unfall beteiligt waren, ermöglichta hatten.

Ihnen wird Folgendes zur Last gelegt:
Sie befuhren am [date and time] mit einem Personenkraftwagen der Marke [mark] mit dem Kennzeichen [plate] unter anderem die [street].
Infolge von Unachtsamkeit verursachten Sie einen Verkehrsunfall, bei dem ein Fremdschaden in Höhe von ca. 500,00 Euro entstand.
Obwohl Sie den Unfall bemerkten, entfernten Sie sich mit dem Fahrzeug von der Unfallstelle, ohne zuvor die erforderlichen Feststellungen zu ermöglichen.

[Robinson100]

Sorry, but it seems to me that you are stuffed!
The other party has a "witness", and you have absolutely nothing - not even photos of the broken mirror or anything!
Have you spoken to your Rechtschutz again? And if so, what do they say?

[pappnase]

The problem here is that you haven't been falsely accused, by your own admission you didn't actually report this accident, you "talked together and checked the mirror and the guy told with a smile and a thumbs up that nothing happened"

This seems like a reasonable thing to do and I personally think the guy reporting you is a dick, but at least on my interpretation, you should have informed the police of the accident.

The relevant law is here: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stgb/__142.html

An english translation might be this:-

Section 142
Leaving scene of accident

(1) Parties to a road traffic accident who leave the scene of the accident before

1. having facilitated, on behalf of the other parties to the accident and any persons suffering injury or harm, the determination of their identity, of their vehicle and the nature of their involvement through their presence and by stating that they were involved in the accident or

2. having waited for an appropriate period of time under the circumstances during which no one was willing to make such determinations

incur a penalty of imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or a fine.

(2) Parties to an accident who leave the scene of the accident

1. after the end of the waiting period (subsection (1) no. 2) or

2. justifiably or excusably

but subsequently do not promptly make such determinations possible also incur the penalty under subsection (1).

(3) Parties to an accident satisfy the obligation to subsequently make the determinations possible if they inform the persons entitled to receive such information (subsection (1) no. 1) or a nearby police station that they were involved in the accident and if they state their address and whereabouts as well as the licence plate number and location of their vehicle and make it available for prompt examination for a reasonable period. This does not apply if they intentionally obstruct these determinations by their conduct.

(4) The court mitigates the penalty (section 49 (1)) in the cases under subsections (1) and (2) or may dispense with imposing a penalty pursuant to these provisions if the parties to the accident voluntarily make the determinations possible (subsection (3)) within 24 hours after an accident which did not take place in flowing traffic and which resulted in merely minor property damage.

(5) A party to an accident is deemed to be anyone whose conduct, under the circumstances, may have contributed to causing the accident.

Edited to add:
You said this:

If I would record our conversation with my mobile phone, this wouldn't happen.
The guy could barely talk a word in German and probably got the idea of suing me from someone else. He reported it to police after couple of hours.
He is clearly ripping me off and I do not know how to prove it.

If you recorded it without his permission you would have broken another law https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stgb/__201.html and would be in even more trouble.
The guy probably reported it to the police because he didn't want to be fined. He did the expected thing, he made sure you were OK, then went and reported the accident from a safer place.

He isn't ripping you off, he won't get anything out of this fine, you are being charged with a criminal act, not chased for costs.

Also NOTE This is not legal advice, just my personal opinion, if you want legal advice go find someone trained and licensed to practice law.

[kiplette]

That's a gigantic fine. I had a fine of something like 30 euros.

The whole situation is nuts. Sorry this has happened.

The thing pappnase has quoted shows that you need to communicate with the other party 'or a nearby police station' if that's not possible, not that every tiny infraction has to be reported to the police or else, unless I'm massively misunderstanding.

eg. a car reversed into us at the zoo carpark, and damaged the rear end of our old and very scratched/bumped car. They waited for us, and were busy exchanging details with Paps when I pointed out that we didn't care enough to get it mended, at which point we shook hands and went on our way. Obviously none of us involved the police because we agreed that nothing happened, so to speak.

eg I touched the side view mirror of a car driving down a narrow road, heard a nasty bang, stopped, she told me I was an idiot, checked that all we'd heard was the spring loaded mirror springing emphatically, had a short chat about life in our small town and we went on with our lives without gathering police about us.

Those are not Fahrerflucht, surely? Seems bonkers. And that's what the OP is describing, except that the other dude then decided he could use the event to get the wing mirror of a different vehicle mended, and therefore started a false proceeding.

I do think you are stuffed, though, unfortunately. Unless your Rechtschutz can perform some Recht magic. Because the other guy is lying and you didn't have any photos to counteract his claim. Although his photos can't be date/time stamped correctly.

Kid#3 was accused of damage to the side of a car whilst cycling gegenverkehr because the right side was blocked with snow so the guy pulled out across the cycle path and didn't see her. The whole thing was a bit nuts, we were just glad she wasn't hurt, and our Haftpflicht paid up, and only much later did a friend suggest that the dude was pulling insurance fraud, which made more sense. At least we didn't have to pay some huge fine.

[apfel]

... at least on my interpretation, you should have informed the police of the accident.

I asked twice if I should call police, he told no. Which was reasonable to me. Everything was ok.
Lesson learned!

As I talked to Police I found that he apparently showed them a car with completely broken mirror. My guess is that he reported a different car to get the mirror replacement fee, otherwise the mirror of the car was perfect. However, I have nothing to prove it. No photo, no witness.

It shouldn't be that simple. One can damage his car later off the scene and report it to police, and bring a witness.

[kiplette]

My husband (ex-police) suggests that the Rechtschutz needs to ask for proof that the photos are from the correct date and time, and that the witness should be properly questioned - where were you stood, what precisely could you see, blah blah.

Rather than everything just being accepted as truth.

[apfel]

Here’s an update on the case. Unfortunately, I lost.

Today was the trial. Before heading into the hall, I wondered why the driver hadn’t shown up. It turned out the only stranger standing at the door was the one playing the role of the driver.

Unlike me, who was in a place like this for the first time and had no idea where to sit or what to do, the guy seemed totally experienced. He knew where to go, when to go, what to say, and how to say it, all very relaxed.

Well, it was clear the guy was lying. As I mentioned in my first post, he showed a completely different car to the police. Apparently, the person who was at the scene described everything to him, and he just repeated what he heard. After a few simple questions, the judge let him go without any challenge. There was no challenge to the validity of the photo (the real driver took the photo and shared with him), no consideration of my claim that he might have crossed into my lane and it was his fault (the fake driver), or that if I had hit the the mirror, the front of the mirror would have been damaged, not the back.

The judge said I could accept liability now and pay €1,000 instead of €1,600; otherwise, the case would go to an expert (Gutachter). My lawyer advised that, based on his experience, it would be better to accept it and close the case as soon as possible. If it went to the expert and we couldn’t prove our claim, we would end up paying all the costs, including the trial, Gutachter fees, and any other expenses that might arise. Plus, there was a chance I could lose my driver’s license. it was too risky.

I accepted. It was painful to accept, especially since the guy was lying without any pushback. As far as I understood, I will not be considered guilty, just the case will be closed.

I admit I made a lot of mistakes along the way, like not taking a photo like the guy did (after we said goodbye), not calling the police, and not consulting an experienced lawyer in time. But I expected the system to verify the evidence and not accept claims so easily. I never thought someone could cheat the system like this.

I don’t know if I should lose faith in the system or if my lawyer just wasn’t good enough. Even though he received all the case details before the trial, he didn’t read them or share what the other side claimed. Just 20 minutes before the trial, I was explaining the case and what happened that day. I had provided him with detailed information weeks ago. He set up a phone call two days before the trial, and it turned out he does not know anything about the case. He asked me to explain everything again right before the trial. I thought maybe he was treating this as an initial trial with little impact, which is why he seemed so relaxed.

Anyway, the trial wrapped up in about 20 minutes. Besides the fine, I might also have to pay a separate fine to my car insurance, as they may cover the costs for the guy’s mirror. Interesting. It seems he’ll get money for the mirror of his KIA (2002) and also some compensation for lost work, as he claimed he took time off. I don’t know how much that would be or if it’s worth it for him.

Lessons learned:
- Under no circumstances should you leave the scene.
- Call the police.
- If you receive a letter from the police asking for information, consult an experienced lawyer in person about how to fill out the form and how to proceed. The phone consultants at the legal insurance company (rechtsschutzversicherung) may not be experienced or reliable.

---
P.S: Does the legal insurance cover the costs? If yes, I am not sure to use it because I have heard they might terminate the contract unilaterally if they think you're a costly customer.

[Fraufruit]

Didn't you get the lawyer through your Rechtshutzversicherung?

[apfel]

Didn't you get the lawyer through your Rechtshutzversicherung?

No. But informed them. Actually the lawyer got my Rechtshutzversicherung documents and contacted them about my case.

First, I received a letter from the police stating something like, "Someone claimed you had an accident with their car, damaged the mirror, and left the scene intentionally. Do you accept this accusation?" It also asked for my personal information (name, address, car model, etc.). There were a few options to choose from: reject, accept, and so on. To respond, I called the Rechtshutzversicherung. I spoke to two consultants over the phone, but what they told me didn’t make much sense. The third person finally explained how to fill it out and which option to choose.

About two months after I rejected the accusation, I received a letter for a penalty notice (Strafbefehl) that included a €1,600 fine and a one-month driving ban. That was when I realized this was serious, so I went to a lawyer. I didn’t know the lawyer beforehand. I chose him based on a recommendation from a neighbor.

Later, the lawyer told me that the advice given over the phone by the Rechtshutzversicherung might not be reliable. They often don’t know all the details and don’t spend much time on each case. He told I should have come to him (or any other lawyer) right after receiving the initial letter. Before sending my response to the police, there have been ways to close the case or settle it for a much lower cost. But since I replied to the police, we now had to go through the trial process, which would be much more expensive.

[kiplette]

Well that's crap.

Sorry you had that experience. People are awful.